Want to row an Ocean? 10 things you need to know!

Rowing an Ocean is a massively fulfilling and brutal challenge. The majority of ocean rowers don’t make it to the start or turn back. The ones that do make it out to sea or across the Ocean, generally have a really good reason why they want to do this. In this blog, I’ve summarised the top 10 things I recommend you to consider if you are thinking of taking on the big blue sea with nothing but oars and muscle strength to propel you across.

Why are you doing this?

“If you have a good ‘why’, you’re already more than halfway there!”

Pick a reason which is for you - not for other people. If you’re simply adding a tick to a bucket list or your main reason contains the word ‘should’ - go back to the drawing board and find a better “Why’.

You might still make it, but there’s a strong chance you won’t enjoy and might regret it! If you are doing it because you LOVE rowing, LOVE the ocean, or are drawn to an adventure like this as a massive part of your life journey, then go for it! The people I’ve met who have something to prove to themselves, seem to be pretty unstoppable!

My reason why

There are multiple reasons why I took on this challenge. The most influential were my longing for the ocean and my want to overcome a fear as well as setting an example of what’s humanly possible.

One of my main reasons for taking on this challenge was to help set an example to anyone who has had a challenging time or has been battling something. We all have our challenges in life and being able to carry on despite this can be so empowering. I had so many people, friends and otherwise, contact me during the row or after, saying “I’ve always wanted to do [insert personal adventure or challenge, big or small] and I’ve never had the courage or motivation to do it, then I thought of you on that Ocean, and I’ve just done X, Y, Z!!

It warms my heart / gives me the warm fuzzies, when people tell me this, it’s such an unexpected extra bonus to know that I’ve made a difference / influenced someone else’s life for the better. It makes what I do more than worth it.

Some days, when I’d run out of motivation to do this for just me, I’d think of different individual people back home, who were struggling to recover from something. Knowing that each stroke was making an impact on how they viewed their recovery too. That stuff - that kept me going for hours and hours out at sea.

After going through my own battle, it was time for me to set an example for not just for myself and the ones I cared for but whoever followed our journey.

2. Do you want to row solo or with a team?

Who are you doing it with? Solo - do you know yourself well enough & know what you need? Do you know the other people you’re rowing well enough - do you trust their reasons for doing this? Will they carry on whatever it takes (within reason and provided it’s safe to do so of course).

My experience

I have been lucky enough to have experienced rowing with a team as well as rowing solo. They both have their pros and cons and the length and type of journey can play a key role in helping you decide which option might be best.

For my Pacific crossing I found it to be a benefit being in a team, as this was my first ocean rowing experience and I was able to share that with others.this was a unique experience that only myself and the team were present for, and that is something special we share.

After the Pacific row, I was inspired to do a solo row. Curious to know what it would be like and how different it would be rowing on my own. The journey being well and truly mine. I saw the Baltic Sea, with its mix of islands and larger open crossings as a good way to experiment with rowing solo.

The opportunity allowed me to take control of my decisions and set my own pace and created a completely different experience.

Where to find a team?

There are many ways to find a team and to get involved with a team that might be looking for another rower, you just have to look in the right places. Social media is a good place to find and build a team as you can find rowing specific groups. Reaching out to specific people you know who you would love to join you can be a good approach too. Explorers Connect is also a good place to find possible teammates as it is a community of adventurers.

3. How to find a boat?

Finding a boat can seem like a daunting task and is one of the most important things about planning an ocean row. Without a boat, you can’t go! And in my experience, for both my rows, the boat showed up a matter of days before. Which can be stressful, so I’d recommend getting a boat sorted early, and transported to where you need it to be in good time.

There are various places to find a boat, forums, Facebook groups, approaching rowing companies and boat manufacturers as well as experienced rowers. Some Ocean Rowers even decide to build their own boat from scratch. Maximum kudos point here!! Building your own boat or being familiar with the build is a real advantage as you’ll know first hand how to fix anything which breaks. And believe me, things will break!

New boats can be extremely expensive, and from my experience, it’s good to use a boat which has already done one or more successful crossings. That way, you know it’s capable of it. As a habit, I’ve always opted for the simplest type of boat possible, the waves are unpredictable, so when things break, the simpler the boat build, the greater the chance you will have of rebuilding or re-engineering anything while you’re out at sea.

Making sure your row boat is seaworthy

Once you have obtained your rowboat, there are a number of things you need to consider, ie making it seaworthy. It's no use having a rowboat that isn't structurally robust and is possibly dangerous. I’ve seen teams prepare for 2 years for an Ocean row, only to be let down by the structural integrity of their boat. In one case, the boat sank and now rests at the bottom of the ocean. Their row was over. So be cautious of boats which seem like a bargain! Part of the preparation is the capsize test. The capsize test essentially uses cranes to lift your row boat out of the water and tips it upside down to check that the weight is distributed evenly so that if the row boat does capsize, it will automatically roll back the right way up.

Useful Links: Rannock Adventure, Sea-Sabre.

4. How will you find funding?

The first thing you will need to do is figure out how much the project is going to cost. Crossing a decent chunk of water in a rowing boat can cost anywhere between £0 and £100k depending on how much funding you can get and what type of boat you decide to use. Buying a brand new state of the art boat without sponsorship or funding for example can be a pricey option.

Things you will need to factor into the budget are;

Equipment - ocean equipment is not cheap and safety is important. However, there are companies out there which are willing to help. We got most of our kit for free through sponsorship or at trade price.
You will need to factor in the costs of food, if you are buying all your pre packed meals before you go, you need to work out how much you will need and how much this will cost. Most Ocean rowers will consume about 4000-4500 calories a day.
There will be some qualifications that you are required to have to do an ocean row, like a VHF radio license and some of these can be quite expensive.
Travel - to and from start and end of the row. This might involve flights.
Shipping - how will you transport your boat to the start of your crossing and what will you do with it at the end?
You need to think about accommodation, where will you be staying leading up to the start of your trip, as well as once you have finished.
Will any visas be required for where you will be travelling to? This could implement unexpected costs if not planned properly.
If you are going to be taking part in a race, there will most likely be entry fees. The two main races out there are The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge and The Great Pacific Race.

Sponsorship

Not everyone will be able to self fund an ocean row, therefore sponsorship is an important element to help get the trip off the ground. Approaching businesses, adventure brands and big corporations are a good place to start for funding and sponsorship. Make sure your sponsorship pitches are targeted to the company's brand, and you think clearly about what they will get from working with you and be clear on how much you need.

You’re more likely to get free equipment through brand alliances than you are to get big sums of money, but this is still beneficial as there is a lot of equipment that is needed for any trip out to sea, so any way of reducing costs by being given gear is a positive.

For my ocean crossing we did some fundraising through running fundraising events. This is a great way to get financial help as well as creating awareness of your trip and a community of supporters following your journey.

If you are doing the row for a specific cause or for charity - ask if they will sponsor you and give you things for free (incl shipping, accommodation etc). If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Self-funding

Whilst self funding Is an option, few people self-fund Ocean Rows themselves as it can be a big investment.

As well as sponsorship and fundraising, there is the option of buying a ‘paper seat’ for about £15k. This will get you a seat in a boat for the crossing. Be sure to check if food, equipment and the items from the list above are included in the price before you sign up.

5. What equipment will you need and where to get it from?

You will need to create an equipment list before you can think about your budget. Once you have thought about all the gear you will need, you can calculate an estimated cost.

Safety equipment

Sea Anchors (para anchor) and Drones
VHF Radio
Satellite phone
Immersion suits
Life Raft
Emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB)
Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)
Life jackets
Safety harnesses

Not only do you need the equipment to physically complete an ocean row, you will need safety equipment. Safety equipment can be expensive, and for people who buy it, it sits in the cupboard when you’re not at sea! It’s worth asking anyone you know or you think might be willing to help if they would be happy to lend or rent items to you. You can see from the photos, we were pretty stoked to get our paws on these sought after items!

Food & cooking

Freeze dried meals
High calorie Snacks
Jetboil (I recommend the Jetboil Flash because it has a built in igniter which saves you faffing about with matches at sea)
A trusty spork (I recommend Light My Fire which sell sporks made from bio-pastic)
Fresh water maker / Desalinator

As well as the equipment to complete the ocean row, the other important element you need to plan is food. Food is a huge part of the journey and it is important you take time to think about this before. You will need to calculate the amount of calories you will be consuming per day, in relation to the amount you will be burning. The type of food you bring will also be restricted due to the minimal cooking equipment you will have, as well as the amount of space that you can afford to allocate to food storage.

Navigation Equipment

GPS
Charts
Sea Compass
Navigation lights

Clothing

We used some great items from Musto (their XP Extreme Performance range) and Sealskin who sponsored us. We found many clothing and adventure brands willing to give us a big discount on clothing, or at least give us items at cost price. So always ask if brands or retailers are willing to help you. They became a part of our journey.

Other useful items

Bilge Pump
Tools and spares for repairs (things will break)
Sudocrem - with the amount of salt water chafing your bum will thank you for packing this item!

6. Do you have enough experience?

Before you decide to embark on an ocean row you need to think about your personal experience. Ocean rowing is very different to flat water rowing and just because you are good at it, doesn’t mean you will have the same experience when you are out at sea.

Experience & Practice

Being at sea is not for everyone, and there are challenges that are new for any rower. For ocean rowing, it is more important to have good navigation skills than it is being a good rower. Experience rowing is definitely useful, and it’s good to check you enjoy it, however you will need other skills too.

You will need to consider things like knowing and understanding wind direction and currents and what to do in a major storm.

Having experience with the ocean, through sailing is a great way to help you understand the elements that are factored into an ocean row. You will need certain qualifications, understanding and experience that you can’t obtain from rowing on a river.

Recommended courses & qualifications:

Yachtmaster Theory
Sea Survival
First Aid
VHF licence - essential if you are taking any boat to sea
Advanced Ocean navigation - not essential, but it’s pretty cool once you’re out there to feel confident enough at night to turn off your compass light, and rely on navigating by the stars!

And at the end of the day…

“Nothing beats having experience of being at sea”

Ok, so for every ocean crossing I’ve done, I’ve never seen the sea this flat, but yes, the sky really does look like that. And it’s the biggest privilege to see it!

7. Do you feel mentally prepared?

Being mentally prepared is just as important as being physically. You have to consider that an ocean row will push you mentally like never before and this is something you have to be sure that you will be able to cope with. Psychology is really important when considering an ocean row, are you comfortable being with yourself? Can you tolerate possible friction between yourself and teammates? Because at the end of the day you have to keep going and won’t be able to just stop and turn around.

“Best tip I was given?

”It’s a mental game! ”

Focus your prep there. As for the physical side, you’ll get fitter as you go. You can’t train for 12 hrs a day rowing - so do as much as you can and be ok with that. You must be mentally strong to put yourself through this experience.

8. Are you prepared for the worst?

Once you have considered your finances, your physical and mental situation you need to think about the safety side of completing an ocean row. It is really important to have a support team and safety contacts. These will not only be there to help guide and advise you on weather conditions and changes to the route etc but they will also be your main point of contact to the rest of the world.

There is no phone service in the middle of the ocean! So your communication will be limited and you need to have a ground team to help get important information from you to the rest of the world.

It is important to talk about these risk factors with teammates, friends and family and make a plan of how information is communicated in the event of an emergency. What happens in the event that a crew member is injured, or dies, if you have to abandon ship to the life raft or you and your boat are out of contact and deemed ‘lost at sea’ for a period of time.Consider having a plan for how and when your support team should inform your friends and family in such events. Do you share information with certain family members, so you don’t cause worry to others? How will you shore team limit media coverage before families are informed and more clarity can be found.

9. How will you share your message?

Think about media and communicating your cause.

Depending on the scale of your trip, there will be certain elements to consider in relation to media coverage. If you are trying to break a record, then you should consider if there is a cause you want to raise awareness for.

Ocean rowing is a challenge that will naturally draw media attention to you, therefore you may as well take the opportunity to raise awareness for a cause that you care about.

If you want to associate your trip with a cause then creating a following is important to spend time on before you leave for the trip.

PR & Social media

If you want to share your trip then think about how you will run your Social Media and PR while you’re at sea. Will you attempt to do a lightweight version of this yourself? Or do you know someone who can help run it for you? . For the Pacific crossing, my sister supported us with this and became our PR and media person. She dealt with emails, press and any social media posts of our progress. She’d also let us know things like - “the Olympic GB female rowing team have sent you a lovely video message - you can’t see it obviously because you don’t have the bandwidth at sea to download this right now, so let me describe it to you…” which was really sweet.

If you are working with sponsors or charities, then you will need to think about the promotion they are receiving, via your social media channels. It’s great to have someone updating your followers. Bear in mind, the posts which get the most visibility and attention are often the ones when there are more ‘dramatic’ situations at sea. And in these moments, social media is unlikely to be your priority!

10. What do you want to get out of this? How will you use this experience afterward?

Taking part in an ocean row is an incredible life changing experience so consider how this might change and affect your life, both positively and negatively afterwards. Post adventure blues/ transition back to civilisation can be a hard contrast for some people, especially if you are at sea for a considerable time.

What will be the after effects of doing something you’ve never done before? You will probably learn something from it and this could change you. This links back to the first point of why are you doing this? Find your purpose so that when you return you have some answers or achievements that have shaped your life.

Media / perceptions

Be prepared for the media to make stuff up about you to find a story. (i.e. Amanda Challans said: “...insert made up story from the ocean...”). I was lucky, nothing bad was said, it’s just that some of the news stories were only partially accurate, which made me question the integrity of some news sites and press releases. Media attention is not for everyone, so if you are considering a record attempt or something unique or unusual, then you will most likely receive some media attention and you need to think about how this might affect your life post row. Sometimes media attention can be great for communicating your cause, sometimes, when it’s early, you’ve just woken up and you unexpectedly have a reporter with a camera rolling and asking you questions you’re not prepared for, it can be overwhelming.. So think about your message and how to communicate it.

Giving back

Ok, so you’re still here, reading all the way to the end of this blog. So chances are you’re serious about this. As we discussed earlier. This is an incredible journey if you pull this off and not something to be taken lightly. Big adventures like this are pretty inspiring, and with great power comes great responsibility (as we all know from the Spiderman movie). So think about what you can give back to the world at the end of your adventure. The stories, the lessons, the courage.

For me, one of the biggest things that shaped who I am today was the role models I’d heard about when I was younger.

From Tracey Edward’s book on my parent’s bookshelf, and watching her lead the first all-female sailing team around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race in the most elegant no-bullshit way despite the sexism unleashed from the media.
Then following Debra Searle’s solo row across the Atlantic while I was at school, and hearing her magical stories about the turtle following her boat, and being inspired and influenced by her attitude to carry on despite expectations from other people that she would surely give up, right?

Back in the ’90s growing up in a very male world, these two ladies, unknowingly influenced who I am today. They taught me that it’s OK to do your thing, doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.

So think about the ripples you will create, the people you may influence without even knowing. And be prepared to be the example.

“Good luck!
And may the winds and the currents carry you on your way.”

If you’re feeling keen and want to hear more advice and stories from adventures across the Oceans, check out the Ocean Rowing Podcast where Amanda Painter has hosted a collection of interviews with a variety of Ocean rowers from around the globe.

For more stories follow me on instagram, head to my full blog page or get in touch to find out more about booking me as a speaker.

Want to row an Ocean? Here are 10 things you need to know!

Why are you doing this?